Fourteen OBE Letters

When I posted a few weeks back, I promised to post some of my
earlier writings, so here goes. I've decided to "post" a series of
letters I wrote to a group of Seth-oriented friends eight years ago.
The letters were geared to help them have OBEs. And remember,
The material contains only my personal OPINIONs.

First of all, let me tell you again why I've written this letter, and
why I'm intending to write more.

I'm assuming from our discussions that you are interested in
learning to leave your body at will, or developing your psychic skills
in other areas. I'm also assuming that your not averse to becoming
more spiritual. Hopefully, these letters will give you a little bit of
each.

This letter, and all such letters, are based on a few basic premises:

I love good letters from good friends

I would like to get letters like that more often

I believe that little reminders, quotes, and so forth, are
helpful in developing psychic abilities, whether that is
astral projection or any other ability.

I believe that if I have a reason or a "prompting" to
practice, I will get better that these abilities.

And if you also believe these premises, these letters might be able to
help you develop some abilities. The letters will contain exercises,
helpful hints, Sethian and new-age philosophy, hopefully some light
humor, maybe even a few stories.

The letters won't be too long; maybe a page or two each. This
letter may be longer than most, because of the long introduction.

Above all, this should be fun! I don't want this to be junk mail.
Don't just throw it away, read it. It may be full of crap, but it also
might have something of value inside. If it's not fun, if it's not
exciting, if it's not helpful, then tell me! If you're not gaining
anything
from these letters, I'm wasting my time writing them, and I'd sooner
switch my strategy in developing other "psychic learning tools."

I'd like to encourage you to write me some letters too! I can take
criticism, suggestions, comments or just about anything. All of your
input is valuable to me, because you are a valuable person. And
perhaps (if you want) we can add your letters (or variations of them)
to this collection, and then many people can benefit from your
insights, lessons and experiences. If any "psychic learning tool"
becomes too one-sided, it becomes dull and tedious after a while. It
dries up. It can be fun to write letters that say "blah blah blah," but
it's
even more fun to get a reply in the mail that says, "Oh yeah?," and
then to answer back, "Yeah! So there, nyah!!!" If you don't agree
with anything I've said in any letter, by all means, speak up! If I am
wrong, to keep me in ignorance is to keep me from spiritual growth.
If you tell me my error, you've done me a great service. On the other
hand, if I am right, I've done you a service. And we've both had fun
arguing.

Because I want to be able to help many people with these letters,
I can't address you by your first name. However, I don't want these
letters to be impersonal either. For now, assume that I know you, and
I'm your good friend. I'll assume the same, a feisty one at that! With
that, let's get on with it. Do you really want to become an at-will
astral traveller? I mean really? Think about it for a minute. What
does that mean? Well, it probably means taking risks. It means facing
the unknown. It means looking fear in the eye and saying, "UP
YOURS!" Courage is not the ability to walk into danger without fear.
Rather, Courage is the ability to walk into danger and think to
yourself, "Yeah, I'm scared--I'm scared to death--but that's not going
to stop me." The most valuable thing I got from the book "Dune" by
Frank Herbert, is the saying that "Fear is the mind-paralyzer." Fear
stops us from doing dangerous things, even when we can gain
immeasurably from doing them. For example, if you were brave
enough to break into Fort Knox, think of how rich you might be?
Think of how fun and exciting it would be. But think of how
dangerous it is, even if you had an army at your command. The fear
of such an adventure is enough to keep us from even thinking about
it.

I personally believe that true "value" is not to be found in material
things, but in spirituality. And whatever "spirituality" means to you,
is okay by me, as long as you don't start axe-murdering babies or
something like that. If the materialists of today's society were to learn
the true value of spirituality, they'd probably try to lock it all away in
a Psychic Fort Knox, and keep it away from the masses! People
would hoard it and try to steal it. Hilarious! Even now some are
trying to ban spiritual books from our public schools and libraries. To
top things off, they do this in the name of spirituality!

The American Heritage Dictionary defines "Spiritual" as:

1. Of, relating to, consisting of, or having the nature of spirit; not
tangible or material. 2. Of, concerned with, or affecting the soul. 3.
Of, from, or pertaining to God; deific. 4. Of or belonging to a church
or religion; sacred. 5. Pertaining to or having the nature of spirits;
supernatural.

Interesting! What better way is there to learn about spiritual
things
than to experience directly, "the nature of spirit; not tangible or
material"? If you leave your body, you are spirit. You are not
tangible or material. You will be concerned with and affecting your
soul. And you will have the nature of spirits; supernatural. You'll
actually fit three out of five definitions of "spiritual!"

Right now, after you're done reading this letter, close your eyes
and say to yourself, "I want to leave my body, regardless of what
happens to me. I want to experience this non-physical world directly,
not second-hand. I'm pretty doggone sick of just reading about it.
Now it's time I start doing it. I'm hell-bent to have an OBE. I
promise myself I'll give it my best shot." And commit it to your
subconscious. Realize that your subconscious is listening, and knows
what you really want, and if you really want OBEs, you'll really start
getting them. It's just a matter of time, practice and dedication.

Do you remember my last letter? I started out the last letter by
saying, "Dear Potential Astral Traveller" and this letter I took out the
"Potential." Do you know why? I want you to start considering
yourself as an Astral Traveller. It's an illustrious title, don't you
think?

Say to yourself, "Yes, I am an Astral Traveler." Sure, maybe you
haven't had a real OBE, or maybe you have. But soon you will be
experiencing them, right? And since time is simultaneous, that "Astral
Traveller" self also exists, with as much validity as you. You are that
person. It's only a matter of getting from "here" to "there" in terms of
time. You are a fellow Astral Traveller! Now. Isn't that good to
know? There is a principle of psychology known as labelling. That's
where kids will become "dumb" or "smart" because something their
teachers (or parents) told them, changed their image of themselves.
And that change of image also changes their reality, automatically, and
without fail. If you identify, I mean really identify with being an
Astral
Traveller, then you will achieve that goal. Your subconscious will say
to itself (and its reality), "Oh, you mean I am an astral traveller?

Well,
I better start acting like one and shape up, and have more OBEs."
Your subconscious is very good at shaping up. Ever noticed? A
person under hypnosis can heal him/herself instantly. Powerful.

Okay. If you'll remember, last letter I wanted you to think to
yourself, "I'm hell-bent to have an OBE." If you were raised as a
Christian of sorts, you may have hesitated at that point. Maybe you
thought to yourself, "What if I am hell-bent? What if there is a hell?
And what if all this OBE stuff does get me into some sort of spiritual
trouble? What if I'm breaking some sort of cosmic law? What if...?"

Well, I was raised as a Catholic, so I had to face all these issues
in
my mind before I really allowed myself to have any out-of-body
experiences. If you don't have these problems, good. But it won't
hurt to think about them once again.

My reasoning is this: Why do I want OBEs? Because I want to
be spiritual. I want to experience first-hand. And will God damn me
to hell for that? No, because my intent is good. As long as you are
persuing spirituality in your own way, God's not going to condemn
you. And if he/she/it does condemn us for being spiritual, he/she/it
deserves to be impeached, and I guess I'll see you in hell! To me, it's
worth the risk.

You've heard the old saying, "Curiosity killed the cat." Well, it's
all a vicious lie! In fact, the proverbial cat knew when its time was up,
it chose its own death, and it was just trying to have as much fun as
possible, right up until the end! Yes, fun. It knew the risks, and it
took them. It knew it was going to die, so it decided to live it up, to
the very end.

My handy American Heritage Dictionary defines "curiosity":
1. A desire to know or learn. 2. A desire to know about people or
things that do not concern one;nosiness. 3. Something that arouses
interest, as by being novel or extraordinary. 4. A strange or odd
aspect. 5. Obs. Fastidiousness.

It also says "curious" comes from these Latin roots: "Curiosis"
(careful, inquisitive) and "Cura" (care).

Well, yes. We do have a desire to learn. OBEs arouse interest.
They are novel, and extraordinary. They can be strange or odd. And
we do care about these matters. The opposite of love is not hate, it
is uncaring. We care enough to risk everything for our spiritual
knowledge and development.

How did the proverbial cat die anyway? Maybe it saw Pandora's
box, and was curious. It decided to look inside, regardless of the
danger. It opened the box, some monster jumped out and killed it.
What then? Then it peacefully left its body, and walked away from
that body happy, because its curiosity was satisfied.

In other words, "No guts, no glory."

Okay--Let's assume it's alright with God that we leave our bodies.
Suppose there are really "hells" out there on the astral plane, and it's
not just a scare-story. And suppose you somehow get lost and find
yourself in one of them. What then?

It's just like smoke inhalation or heat stroke or any other danger to
the physical body. What happens to an angry child when he tries to
hold his breath until he dies? Provided he doesn't give up too soon,
he will pass out or faint and his subconscious will take control and
resume breathing normally. When your conscious self is not able to
handle an experience, your subconscious is.

If you find yourself in an unpleasant astral encounter, you will
faint
or pass out. Count on it. Remember how powerful your
subconscious is? It's old hat to the astral world. It's been dealing
with
the astral world for centuries. Anything you can dish out, it can
handle. (It's only the physical body that can't take punishment. While
out of your body, you can't be harmed.)

And what about the body while you're gone? Don't worry--your
oversoul has made too big an investment in that body to let go of it so
easily. Your oversoul knows what's happening to the body at all
times. And if anything disturbs the body, once again you'll pass out
and be brought to full consciousness again. Your subconscious deals
with that every time you go to sleep. It constantly monitors your
body. If anything happens, you'll be pulled back in instantly. Yes,
instantly: since time and space are illusions, it won't take any time at
all to return.

Now that that's settled, I want you to do a little experiment, just
for fun. When you're done reading this, sit up straight in a chair, close
your eyes, and very gently and slowly start nodding your head, "yes."
Now don't analyze any of this, just try to feel that rocking sensation.
Memorize that feeling of gentle swaying. Pretend that your whole
astral body is also swaying just like your physical head is swaying.
There is a point of balance, and if you nod your head, you will tend to
lose that and feel slightly disoriented. I want you to do this several
times today. Also try moving your head in small circles. This is good
for many reasons: you should get used to being disoriented.
Memorizing this feeling will help to induce OBEs.

Well, okay. I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but poke a little fun at
you, after that last letter. Just why are there stories about Pandora,
and that proverbial cat of curiosity? It's just man's fear personified.
Our society is filled with sayings like "Better safe than sorry." Our
society is against taking taking risks. But why? Where would
Christopher Columbus be if he held such fear in his heart? Or Lewis
and Clark? Or all the great explorers?

It's true that the astral plane is practically virgin territory. And
where would mankind be if virgins were always left virgin? No
children, no family trees, no history, no anything.

Science and religion both deny the astral world for the most part.
So it's up to a few brave individuals like us to explore and pave a way
for the rest. It's exciting, really. Some day in the distant future,
everyone will be able to leave their body. And instead of hopping a
plane to he coast, people will hop the Astral Plane to the ghost! Think
of how silly it is for them to invest billions of dollars to send a space
probe to take a few pictures of the planets! Scientists will just fly to
the distant planets and galaxies to explore them effortlessly. And
you'll be able to look back and think, "I was a frontrunner." It's a
great feeling. You'll probably have your fill of "I told ya so's!"

Do you know what "astral" means? Back to my handy dandy good
old American Heritage Dictionary:

You always wanted to be a star, right? Well, here's your chance!
There are a few things to keep in mind.

First, it's important to stop yourself several times a day and think
to yourself, "I am an Astral Traveller. I can leave my body. I want to
leave my body." Visualize yourself flying over valleys, seas, planes.
Visualize yourself shooting out away from your body. Visualize
yourself floating. Think to yourself, "Yep, that's what I want."
Remember--your subconscious can take you away from your body
very easily, if it knows that's what you want.

Second, you know the old saying: practice makes preg....er...I
mean perfect (I'm still thinking about those virgins). Practice,
practice, practice. Every night. I strongly recommend you take a nap
sometime during the day, and use that time to attempt to leave your
body. Naps are a lot better than bedtime, because you're not usually
tired when you start out. You can relax and really get into it, without
being so tired that you just fall asleep right away.

"But what do I do when I practice?" you ask. Ordinary meditation
isn't going to do it, although sometimes it happens during meditation.
Okay. I have several things you can try.

First, practice relaxation. Learn to relax your body at-will,
completely and quickly. You should learn to relax every fiber and
tissue of your body.

Second, practice visualizations during your OBE time. Practice
holding onto a visualization as long as you can. See how "real" you
can make the visualization. This is very valuable for learning OBEs.

Third, learn to walk the thin line between "conscious" and
"unconscious." Try to fall asleep some night and watch the process.
That's not too hard. Just let yourself relax more slowly than normal
and when you start to fall asleep, wake yourself up and tell yourself to
stay awake, then try again. Right before you fall asleep, you will start
to see hypnogogic images and hear strange voices. Learn torecognize
these and learn to watch them or listen to them with interest, instead
of falling deeper into sleep. Learn to hang onto that borderland state
for long periods of time. This is a useful skill in learning OBEs.

This has another benefit. By doing this, you are learning to unite
the conscious and the unconscious. You are learning to keep yourself
conscious during the times when your subconsciousis usually in
control. And when that happens, your conscious can talk directly to
your subconscious without interference. And as if by magic, magical
things will start to happen. Your wishes will start to come true. Your
subconscious will cooperate with your conscious. Your left brain will
cooperate with your right brain. Your creative mind will cooperate
with your analytical mind. All areas of your life will improve.

Seventh, try this simple exercise: Pretend that lightening has just
flashed outside, and you're waiting patiently for the clap of thunder.
Just listen. Just listen for the next sound. Don't analyze sounds,
anticipate sounds, or think about anything. Just be quiet and listen
with expectation. This listening is also single-mindedness. Learn to
prolong that frame of mind.

Eighth, try to make your mind passive. Not in gear. Idle.
In a future letter, I'll describe more visualizations and other
exercises. But for now, these are excellent practice, and they can
cause you to have OBEs too. They aren't just preparations for OBEs,
they are actual exercises which can induce OBEs just by practice. The
more you practice, the more you will benefit from them.

I've got to go now, but remember to practice. And also, rereading
these letters can also be quite beneficial.

Have you been practicing? Well, I hope you have. "But I do
practice and nothing ever happens," you say. Well, don't get
discouraged. I practiced for about two months before I had my first
out-of-body experience. And that first OBE didn't happen during
practice, it happened on a day when I wasn't able to practice; it was
a sporadic OBE. The next one happened over a month later.

That first two months of OBE practice, however, yielded some
very interesting and valuable results. All kinds of weird "psychic"
things happened to me during my practice time. It had its ups and
downs, some really scary experiences, but also some really neat ones.
And I learned a lot about myself. And although I got very
discouraged with it all, it eventually helped me to become the astral
traveller I am. And it will help you too.

Now I suppose you're wondering what the scary things were that
I encountered. Well, I really don't want you to be frightened of
practice, but I also don't want you to be unprepared. During practice
I would feel pokes and prods. Sometimes it felt as if a warm hand
was being placed on my body. I even felt a few pinches on my butt!
Swear to God! I jumped about three feet! But nothing "bad" ever
happened to me.

What did I do about it? When I would get too frightened, I would
quit practicing for the night. And try to get some sleep, after I
calmed down. Sometimes I got so frightened that I'd stop practicing
for a few days or a week. But my insatiable curiosity always brought
me back to my main goal, astral projection. And I did reach my goal,
and so can you. I think there was a good reason for all the frightening
experiences: they helped me get over my fear. I was forced to face
my fears and conquer them one by one, especially my fear of the
unknown. I suppose conquering fear of the unknown was a big step
in my OBE development. Robert Monroe said that fear is the biggest
barrier to astral projection. Once you are able to conquer that fear,
you'll be a much happier person.

However frightening OBE-practice might be, the actual OBEs
themselves aren't frightening. Rather, they are very peaceful and
happy. Not frightening at all. I've only had two OBEs in which I
didn't feel "safe." Two out of hundreds isn't bad statistics. The first
one I felt unsafe because I was surrounded by a bunch of dirty-looking
people who looked like they were going to ambush me. I still felt
peaceful, and not frightened. I just let myself gently float backward
and into my body again, and I came to just fine. The second "unsafe"
experience was also not frightening at all. I just heard a voice
commanding me to say words in a language I didn't understand.
Naturally, I DIDN'T say those words, because I didn't trust the voice
I heard.

So you see, I felt "unsafe" for only two OBEs. But still, I've
NEVER had a frightening out-of-body experience. I've always felt
very peaceful and usually calm and happy. OBEs are only frightening
to people who have them by accident, or think they have died. They
don't understand what's going on, and it's not the OBE that's
frightening, but rather, fear of the unknown. The fact that they are
put into unfamiliar surroundings with new laws, seems to frighten
them. We don't have to be afraid of OBEs, because we understand
the rules: we create our own reality. The same goes on the astral
plane, except we aren't limited by our bodies, or gravity, or any
physical limitations. It's really very fun.

Then again, all of life can be fun if you have the right attitude,
don't
you think? I mean, instead of being so serious all the time, every once
in a while take a step back and look at the silly things that happen to
us in everyday life. And look at how serious we take it all. You must
eventually die one day, right? So when you're dead, does it matter
how many checks you bounced in life? Or how many times you
forgot to call your mother on mother's day? Nothing in this world is
as important as how we feel about it all. Attitude makes the
difference. Remember, pessimists create their own realities as well as
optimists.

Now I'd like to suggest a little exercise to try right now. The next
time you practice, close your eyes and relax as completely as you can.
Then spend a few seconds trying to determine where your
consciousness is seated. Does your consciousness seem to be in the
center of your head? Or perhaps somewhere between the eyes.
Pretend your consciousness is seated in the center of your head.
Visualize a tiny pinpoint of light at that point, in the center of your
head. You don't have to be exact about the location. If you're not
comfortable with where you have a visualization, move your
visualization until you are comfortable with it. Take a few seconds to
just visualize that pinpoint of light as clearly as you can. Then
visualize the point of light moving down toward the base of the brain.
Move it about three inches down, then slowly move it back to its
original position. Do this visualization a couple of times.

Anyway, I hope you find this exercise enjoyable. I've actually used
this visualization to escape my body a couple of times. It can also
induce some other "neat" effects.

Yes, you! Right now, close your eyes and say to yourself (and the
Universe), "I am a Divine Spark of Life and Light. I am a child of
God." You know it's certainly true. And as a child of God, you
deserve to have all the "mystical" experiences you want. You deserve
to have OBEs, if that's what you want. Do that before reading any
further.

Several times I've had people come up to me and say, "You've had
out-of-body experiences? How interesting! Do you come back to
your body feeling just drained of energy?" I always tell them the
truth: "No." Then they say, "You must have a lot of energy, huh?"
When I probe a little deeper, they usually have a core belief that OBEs
take a lot of energy! They believe that I'm supposed to feel "drained"
or "tired" after an OBE. And of course, that's what probably stops
them from having OBEs themselves. It's just a limiting belief.

When I return from an OBE, I usually feel more vitalized than
ever! Sure, my body sometimes feels "stiff" like I've just come out of
a short coma. Not unusually stiff, and certainly not sore. Just a
slightly harder to bend my limbs. Once I'm up and about I'm back to
normal. It's just that first thirty seconds to a minute that's stiff.

Instead of having less energy, I come back with more, or so it
seems. Of course, when I come to, I usually feel happy and excited.
My mind is once again filled with the prospects of flying weightlessly
to other worlds and seeing things that most people don't even dream
of. I run the whole OBE over in my mind about five times, refreshing
every detailed memory in my mind. Then I either write it all down
immediately, or else type it into the computer. I write down every
detail I can remember, down to the last thought I remembered having.
To me, it's important.

Here's another exercise to try the next time you practice. Sit in a
chair and close your eyes. Now just imagine that you take a step
backward and stand up. You should be looking down at the back of
your head. Then think to yourself, "That's not me, that's just a shell."

No, this simple visualization is not an OBE; it's just a
visualization.

But it really will impress your subconscious with the idea that you can
leave the body. And perhaps one of these nights, during one of your
ordinary dream-cycles, your subconscious will be kind enough to take
you out of your body, and put you back in conscious control again.
This can happen at the beginning or the ending of any sleep cycle.
Since we typically have five or more sleep cycles per night, we have
at least ten opportunities to have "sporadic" OBEs every night! Just
think, seventy opportunities for an OBE every week! And that's
without even trying! Now you can see why I want you to impress this
upon your subconscious mind!

Well, I should be going. But keep up the practice, and I'll see you
next letter!

Alright, I guess I better explain why I called you "Bluebird".
Actually, it's because of a couple of songs written by Paul McCartney,
of Beatles fame. The first song (originally done by the Beatles) was
called "Blackbird" and I've always liked the words:

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free.
Blackbird fly Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.
You were only waiting for this moment to arise.

Of course, it makes me think of OBEs. That's what we're doing,
right? We're learning to fly. We're learning to see. Not just look
with everyday eyes, but to see. With spiritual eyes.

Later, when Paul McCartney left the Beatles, he wrote a much
softer, sweeter song called, "Bluebird," and it's like an answer to
"Blackbird." Here are the words:

Late at night when the wind is still
I'll come flying through your door
And you'll know what love is for.
I'm a bluebird, I'm a bluebird, I'm a bluebird

Touch your lips with a magic kiss,
And you'll be a bluebird too,
And you'll know what love can do.
I'm a bluebird, I'm a bluebird, I'm a bluebird

Fly away through the midnight air,
As we head across the sea,
And at last we will be free
You're a bluebird, You're a bluebird, You're a bluebird

All alone on a desert island
We're living in the trees,
And we're flying in the breeze
We're the bluebirds, We're the bluebirds, We're the bluebirds

Singing Bluebird...

Of course, I'm a collector of songs which
remind me of out-of-body experiences. Of course, the second song
is much more romantic than the first. It goes from the original "Learn
to fly" and carries it to "And we're flying in the breeze." Also, the
second song talks about love, and the first one doesn't.

The group "Yes," did an interesting song called "Astral Traveler."
The words are okay, but not real exciting:

Astral traveller,
Leaving without her,
Wondering where lives go...
Once in the air,
People can take a great respect in being
Heavenly flight, Wonderous night
And, oh the sights worth seeing
Just believing...

But the music is very interesting. If you listen to the song under
headphones, you can hear several separate themes playing at the same
time, and each theme circles at different speeds from the right ear to
the left ear and back. It gives you the illusion that you're being
circled
by musical insects of some sort.

You can easily get into an altered state of consciousness just by
trying to follow some of the individual themes around in their orbits.
Of course, each ear is controlled by different hemispheres of the brain.
When the sound moves from one ear to the other, both sides of the
brain are synchronized, trying to interpret the "location" of the sound.

Veteran OBEer Robert Monroe believes that synchronizing the
two hemispheres of the brain can make OBEs a lot easier to produce,
as well as other psychic experiences. He's developed a set of
"Gateway" tapes which guide you into altered states. He developed
a method for synchronizing the two sides of the brain, and he calls it
"Hemi-sync". Basically, he plays one tone in one ear, and another
tone in the other ear. An artificial sound-beat is created, which is
supposed to synchronize the sides of the brain. Monroe and his
students have had a lot of success with these tapes. You may want to
look into them. A detailed explanation of this process is given in
Monroe's book, "Far Journeys."

Well, I should be going, but I want to give you a simple exercise
first. Once again, the next time you practice, close your eyes. Then
do the following affirmation:

"I want to have out-of-body experiences. I want to leave my body.
I know that the Universe will respond to my needs and wants quickly,
efficiently and joyously. In return, I promise to cooperate with the
Universe, follow my impulses, act on my intuitions, share my
knowledge, spread my love and cooperate with my Higher Self."

I hope your life is filled with love and goodness, and of course
out-of-body experiences.

Remember: Ask and you shall receive. That was Christ's way of
saying, "You create your own reality." What else could it mean?
Many people have asked for pay raises but to no avail, so he couldn't
have meant the statement literally. He must have meant it in a deeper
sense. Seth points out how this statement is ultimately true, and that
we do indeed create our realities. Lazarus adds, you don't always get
what you ask for, just what you want. The key word in this discussion
is "want."

And if you believe that, if you really want to have OBEs, that starts
the whole ball rolling. Seth also said that every desire you have
creates a whole infinity of probabilities, some in which the desire
happens and some in which it does not. In Seth_Speaks he tells us
that the impetus for such creations is based mainly upon the strength
of the desire.

Of course, I'm just getting back to my original theme: desire.
That's where these letters began, and that's where OBEs begin. If you
desire OBEs, they will happen. It also takes practice.

As for practice, here's another exercise: When you're done reading
this, relax as much as you can and close your eyes. Then visualize a
black box about three inches on a side is sitting three feet in front of
your eyes and slightly to the left. Hold that visualization for a few
seconds. Next, visualize a blob of gray (about the same size) sitting
to the right of the box about three inches. The blob of gray has no
definite shape: it's like a small cloud, but it is taller than it is fat,
almost
looking like a snowman. Visualize the two figures for a few seconds.
Next, visualize a thread of light slowly reaching from the black box to
the gray blob. It reaches closer, closer, closer until it reaches the
gray
blob, filling it with light. If you feel any strange sensations, remain
calm and follow your impulses. If nothing happens, try the
visualization again a couple of times. Make sure you do it slowly and
as vividly as you can.

Now you're probably going to ask, what in the world does this do?
Well, I don't know how or why it worked, but I once used that
visualization to induce the vibrations and leave my body. It wasa very
easy OBE. I don't know how or why it worked, but it did. As long
as it works, use it, right?

Well, I should be going. I'll leave you with a rock quote:

All in all the journey
Takes you all the way
As apart from any reality that you've
Ever seen and known
-Yes, "Close to the Edge"

Oh let the sun beat down upon my face,
Stars fill my dreams,
I am a traveller of both time and space
To be where I have been
Sit with elders of a gentle race,
This world is seldom seen
Talk of days for which they sit and wait,
All will be revealed
-Led Zeppelin, "Kashmir"

Dear Explorer,

Here's a suggestion which might be of help. In some of my recent
letters I've quoted some rock and roll songs which remind me of
OBEs, like the one at the top of this letter. I'm going to make that a
regular practice. When you get these letters, you can read the
rock-quote and say it to yourself with meaning. Don't just read it and
say, "Yeah," but try to really feel the message in the quote. I'd also
suggest that you do that with the quote I've given you above, right
now.

I've collected lots and lots of such quotes, but I'm sure there are
lots that I've missed. If you know of any good musical quotes, please
let me know. I'll add them to my collection.

Alright. When you die, you're going to have to leave that body
behind, right? You'll do all kinds of wonderful things then, but you
won't be able to tell us about it! Not without a medium of some sort.
Good mediums are few and far between. They're so rare, it's like
trying to call long distance on Mother's Day.

Well, first of all, we don't want to wait that long to hear those
wonderous stories. Second, we want to hear them directly from you,
and not from a medium. Third, you don't want to wait that long,
right? Well, you don't have to. You can have it this month. Maybe
even today. All it takes is desire, and practice.

An OBE is when your body is asleep while you are awake, right?
Well, your body goes to sleep every night. Suppose you had a way to
"wake up" your consciousness but leave your body asleep. You
could turn an ordinary dream into an OBE. You could wake yourself
up and say, "Wait a minute. I know this is a dream. I'm wide awake
now." From there you have a choice: either you cankeep dreaming
and have a "Lucid dream," or you can wake yourself out of the dream
and have an out-of-body experience. Both a tons of fun.

Lucid dreams are great. You can literally do anything you want.
You can remain completely conscious, and create anything or do
anything you can imagine. They're almost as fun as OBEs, but they're
not as real. Your consciousness will be awake and alert, but the
scenery will be fake.

OBEs, on the other hand, are sometimes more constraining, but
they're real.

The trouble with this all is, when you're dreaming, you usually
don't think to wake yourself up. As a matter of fact, you usually
don't realize you're dreaming. You think you're awake. How can you
get around that? Okay. Here's a simple exercise to try right now.
Ask yourself in all seriousness, "Am I dreaming?" Well, are you?
Maybe these letters have become such a part of your life that you
dream about reading them, right? So how do you know you're not
dreaming all this? I want you to make damn sure you're not dreaming
this. Right now.

If you ask yourself this every fifteen minutes today, I'll bet my
bottom dollar you'll ask yourself the same question tonight when
you're dreaming. Okay, you don't have to ask it every fifteenminutes,
but the more the merrier. You can set yourself a reminder, like your
watch. How often do you look at a clock? Every time you look at a
clock, try to figure out if you're dreaming. It won'ttake long.
Daytime habits carry into dream habits.

So happy dreaming. And happy OBEs! I have to go now, but
keep up the practice.

I'm woven in a fantasy, I can't believe the things I see
The path that I have chosen now has led me to a wall
And with each passing day I feel a little
more like something dear was lost
It rises now before me, a dark a silent barrier between
All I am, and all that I would ever want to be
It's just a travesty, towering, marking off the boundaries
my spirit would erase
To pass beyond is what I seek, I fear that I may be too weak
And those are few who've seen it through
to glimpse the other side,
The promised land is waiting like a
maiden that is soon to be a bride
The moment is a masterpiece,
the weight of indecision in the air
Standing there, the symbol and the sum of all that's me
It's just a travesty, towering, blocking
out the light and blinding me
I want to see
Gold and diamonds cast a spell,
it's not for me I know it well
The riches that I seek are waiting on the other side
There's more than I can measure in the
treasures of the love that I can find
And though it's always been with me,
I must tear down the wall and let it be
All I am, and all that I was every meant to be, in harmony
Shining true and smiling back at all who wait to cross
There is no loss.

Dear Seeker,

That's one of my favorite songs of all time, so I had to give you the
complete words and not just a fragment.

There's only a few problems I have with that song. First, there's a
line that goes, "And with each passing day I feel a little more like
something dear was lost." I don't like it because it's a negative
suggestion. The feeling of loss, I imagine, is because the authors,
Kerry Livgren and Steve Walsh, felt as if Earth-bound time is time
"away from home" so to speak. Perhaps they felt a longing to escape
their confining bodies, and each day they spent inside their bodies
seemed like a day in jail, away from their freedom. I've felt that way
myself from time to time. My assumption about that verse isn't based
on this song alone, but also other songs with similar themes. I'll
probably quote a few of them in later letters. The problem I have is,
I believe we are in our bodies for a reason, and we shouldn't deny that,
regardless of the reason. We should love our bodies. Love them and
leave them!

The second problem with the song is the line, "Gold and diamonds
cast a spell..." I don't believe riches cast a spell. Gold and diamonds
are neutral, and we always have the choice to view them or use them
in any way we choose. In other words, Money doesn't corrupt, our
attitudes toward it may or may not, depending on our intents. I
personally believe that wealth and abundance is our divine right. Of
course, if I were totally convinced, I'd be rich myself, but I'm not yet.
"I'm in the process..." I'll say more about that next letter.

Now for our exercise. This is essentially my interpretation of the
method described by Robert Monroe in his first book, "Journeys out
of the Body." If you haven't read it, I recommend you do for his
"official" description of this method.

The next time you practice, close your eyes, relax and start
breathing slowly and deeply. Relax your body until you can't feel it
any more. Then visualize two lines of force extending from your
temples, crossing at the point one foot in front of your third eye.
Imagine the lines of force are magnetic, so that it requires a small
amount of force to keep the two lines together. Hold that
visualization steadily for about a minute. Then slowly extend the
point of crossing from one foot to three feet in front of you. Since the
angle of the lines increases, the force you feel between the lines
increases. Hold that visualization steadily for about a minute. Then
slowly extend the point of crossing from three feet to six feet in front
of you. The force between the lines increases still. Hold that
visualization. Now push the lines of force away from your temples
until the crossing point forms a ninety degree angle (but the lines still
cross six feet in front of you.) Hold that visualization. Next,move the
lines of force further out in front of you and slowly raise them over
your forehead. Continue to Raise them forward and toward the top
of your head until you feel a "twang." When you feel the "twang,"
pull the lines of force back into your head, and the vibrations will
sweep into yourbody. Don't panic or you'll ruin the whole thing.

That exercise is good to practice on a nightly basis. You can also
try your own variations on it if you like.

Somebody said to me,
Why do you do this to you?
Why not sit back and relax?
Go to the islands and forget it all
Slow down, you're moving too fast
You seem afraid it won't last
Take my advice, go straight and settle down

Thank you for caring,
But tonight the Lights will take me where I long to be
Just like a thousand nights before
-Styx, "Lights"

Dear Pioneer,

That's a neat song, and it brings up another point; the fact that
there is help "out there." I believe in spiritual guides of some sort.
Christians call them Guardian Angels. Zoroastrians call them the
Fervashi. Spiritualists call them spirit guides. Styx apparently calls
them the "Lights." And they can help us.

I'll give you an exercise now, instead of at the end. Since our
guides are here to help us spiritually, I propose the following exercise:
Pray to your guides to help you have OBEs. I can't tell you what to
pray, but I can give you an example: "I pray to God, the All That Is,
and to my guides, helpers and any other benevolent spirits, to help me
achieve my goal of exploring consciously while out of my body.
Please help me leave my body and become conscious, and in return,
I will do my best to become more spiritual, and help you with your
goals of guidence." They do hear our prayers. That's one reason why
prayer works so well.

In my last letter I talked about "in the process." I know I'll
eventually have wealth and abundance, because I'm already in the
process. I used to be "in the process" of becoming an astral traveller,
but it took me a long time to realize I am one.

How many OBEs did it take before I considered myself an astral
traveller? Probably about one hundred, believe it or not. After my
first OBE I thought to myself, "I'm not an astral traveller, just a guy
who's had one OBE." After my second I said, "I'm just a guy who's
had two OBEs." And soI just kept saying that until I had about a
hundred. I didn't really consider myself an astral traveller until I
started talking to people about it and they started giving me that
reputation. Then I embraced the title. I realized that that's what an
astral traveller is: just a person who's been out of his body. During
that first 100 OBEs, I was an astral traveller and I didn't even claim it.

I know I already have wealth and abundance too. That "in the
process" bit is just a crutch. But it's better than saying, "I'm not rich
yet." Once we claim our abundance, we open ourselves to
self-fulfilling prophecy. Prophecy. See? You're a prophet and you
didn't even know that either!

Turn around, turn around,
It's on the other side
Feel the sound, feel the sound,
It's coming from deep inside,
It will fill you with emotion
If you let it be your guide, so
Turn around, turn around,
It's on the other side
-Kansas, "The Other Side"

Dear Beloved Entity,

I like that quote because it's simple and says a lot. The song may
or may not be talking about out-of-body experiences, but I still like to
think of it in those terms. Many religions refer to the astral plane as
the "other side," and the previous Kansas quote I gave you also
referred to the same proverbial Other Side. I personally think
"Kansas" should be a religion too, but I don't think they'd agree with
me! Also, in accordance with the quote, the OBE will definitely fill
you with emotion. Usually good ones.

Kansas also has a few simple words of advice on how to achieve
this emotion-filled experience. We are asked to "turn around," and
to "feel the sound."

I'm not sure how we're supposed to "turn around." Perhaps they
meant we should turn our lives, attitudes around. More likely, we
should turn our focus around. After all, learning to leave the body is
learning to focus your consciousness outside of your body. But that's
not really a concept that can be taught. We just have to experiment
with that one.

However, Kansas' second piece of advice, "feel the sound," is an
important piece of advice. In the case of the OBE, the "sound" may
refer to the famous "Vibrations." What are these vibrations like?
Well, to me they feel very electrical, just like getting electrocuted, but
they also are accompanied by a rough vibrational sound which can
seem very loud.

What are the vibrations? Where do they come from? Perhaps, as
Kansas said, "It's coming from deep inside." Some OBE-books say
the vibrations are heard when we raise the vibrations of our "soul" out
of sync with the vibrations of our body. When that happens, the body
can no longer hold onto the soul, so the soul is free to escape after this
vibrational effect is felt. I have a different theory: I believe God has
a "Cosmic Vibrator!" That's right! And the OBEs are the orgasm!

Alright, enough silliness.

A dear friend of mine pointed out to me that J.Z. Knight described
her channeling "exit" as a raising of her vibrations. Many others have
also stressed the raising of the vibrations. Therefore, I propose the
following exercise:

After you're finished reading this, close your eyes, and relax
completely. Imagine that your entire body is vibrating; as if you were
standing in front of nine-foot speakers where you can both hear and
feel the sound throughout your entire body. Next, imagine that you
are your soul, separate from the body, but laying inside the body-shell.
Your soul is vibrating a few orders of magnitude higher, but the two
are in sync. It's as if you and your body are experiencing the same
musical note, but in different octaves. Next, imagine the higher
soul-note is increasing in pitch gradually and it gets higher and higher
and higher. As the pitch gets higher, the two notes go out of sync and
a certain resonance gets stronger and stronger. This simple exercise
can actually produce the vibrations which can separate you from your
body. Practice this a few times. It also might help to try to listen
intently for any sounds "inside" your head at various points in the
exercise. This listening frame of mind can also produce the vibrations.

Well, I suppose I should get going. Until next letter, good luck in
your astral escapades.

It is no lie I see deeply into the future
Imagine everything
You're close
And were you there
To stand so cautiously at first
And then so high
As he spoke my spirit climbed into the sky
I bid it to return
To hear your wonderous stories.
-Yes, "Wonderous Stories"

Dear Adventurer,

The song quoted above is another wonderful song. To me it seems
to be about a man who was magical: he told wonderous stories, and
he was able to take people out of their bodies. An earlier line goes,
"In no time at all he took me to the gate." It also mentions seeing
deeply into the future. Just listening to this song can raise your
vibrations. I recommend it.

Alright, down to business, right? Do you remember how I closed
my previous letter? I said, "good luck in your astral escapades."
After I finished that letter, I went to my handy-dandy American
Heritage Dictionary and looked up the word, "Escapade," and here's
what it said:

An adventurous action that usually violates conventional standards of
behavior.

It also said it came from the same root word as "Escape."

I thought to myself, how appropriate! That's another way of
saying, "out-of-body experience!" It's adventurous! And it certainly
violates conventional standards of behavior. We're trying to escape
our bodies, right? The great escape, but on a temporary basis, right?

I thought, what a wonderful dictionary! It's got all kinds of neat
things inside! I call it the American Heretic Dictionary! Thinking
about my name for the dictionary, I looked up "Heretic," and it said
this:

A person who holds controversial opinions, esp. one who publicly
dissents from the officially accepted dogma of the Roman Catholic
Church.

One root word is "hairesthai," meaning, "to choose."

And that also fit me perfectly! I was raised as a Catholic, but my
out-of-body explorations soon made me realize how limited and
confining the Catholic beliefs are. I'll admit it; my opinions are
controversial. But then again, so are most new-age beliefs. The
Catholic Church didn't let me choose my own path. It didn't want me
to leave my body, because it was afraid I'd find my own truths, and
see beyond their limiting views. And I did.

I was also deeply into science back then, as well as being a
Catholic. I had acquired the attitude that if a theory ignores facts,
it's
not worth much. Well, the Catholic Church and science both denied
the existence of the OBE, so I threw them both out the window. I
decided to find my own spiritual answers. And I started looking in the
only place they hadn't looked: in the astral world itself!

"So tell me what you found," you are probably asking. Well, that's
why I'm working on a book. I'd be glad to share it with you. But
these letters don't permit me enough room to tell you about it all.
Hopefully I'll go into more depth in later letters. The main point I
want to make is, don't take my beliefs to be true, and don't take
science or religion to be true either. What I'm saying is, discover your
own truths! Go out there and explore! Blaze a new trail! Go out and
kick some astral ass! Take an astral opinion-survey! Can you
imagine hearing this on the news some night?

A recent astral-plane public opinion survey of 1000 spirits was
taken by the Astral Information Agency concerning religious and
moral beliefs. Ninety-five percent of the spirits poled believed in God
as an infinite intelligence. Four percent had no opinion. The other
one percent poled were atheists. Full details will be published later
this month in Death magazine.

Okay, enough silliness. Time for an experiment. When you're
done reading this, lay down, relax completely and put yourself into a
receptive mood. Imagine that there is a yoyo (in your favorite color)
in front of you at eye level. Imagine the yoyo string is attached to the
area between your eyes. The yoyo is weightless, so it doesn't fall
with gravity. A real yoyo needs a pushing and pulling action from
your hand, but this yoyo needs a pushing and pulling of energies from
your third eye. Push the yoyo down to the end of its string, and pull
it back up again to your third eye. Try to do this until your
visualization is so real that you can actually see the yoyo in front of
you.

You may think it sounds quite silly, but it's really one of the most
important exercises I'll ever give you. If you can't visualize it clearly
today, I recommend you keep working at it every day until you can.
The reason is when you are trying to leave your body there are very
important key points to keep in mind, and one of them is realism. If
you could visualize the yoyo with absolute realism, out-of-body
experiences would be a short step away.

I'll talk more about those key points in my next letter. But until
then, keep practicing and don't get discouraged. Remember, it's only
a matter of time and practice before you're on your astral feet, or off
of them as the case may be.

Well, I'll admit the song quoted above might not be about Astral
Projection, but what the heck. For now, let's think about it in those
terms.

In my previous letter, I said I'd talk about the key points to
inducing out-of-body experiences, so I will.

As I see it, some of the key points to inducing OBEs are:
relaxation, focus, realism, motion, receptivity and passivity. And not
necessarily in that order.

Relaxation is important because if you aren't relaxed, you'll have
too much consciousness focused in your body. That's why I
suggested you learn to relax as quickly and completely as possible.

The second point, focus, is a matter of training your own mind so
that you can focus on one particular image, visualization, sound or
thought. Seth said that one of our key problems is that we are too
focused on physical reality. To leave the body, we have to learn to
focus our consciousness out of this body and focus it elsewhere.
Carlos Casteneda talked a lot about learning to focus in his book,
"The Fire From Within."

The third point, realism, has to do with the degree of focus. This
world seems real to us because we are so focused here. We must
learn to focus outside of our body to such a degree that it all becomes
real. Not only does it seem real, it is real. After just one OBE, you'll
find out just how real it is.

The fourth point, motion, concerns the swaying motion you feel in
your body. I often use this feeling of motion as a form of vivid
imagining, to actually propel myself out of my body. I start an inner
"swaying" sensation in my imagination which later becomes quite real.

The fifth point is receptivity. We must learn to make ourselves
receptive. This receptive state of mind is important in calling or
inducing the vibrations. We wait, openly, and our consciousness
reaches out until the vibrations sweep into us and separate us from our
bodies.

The sixth point is passivity, and this is probably the most important
point of them all. The more passive we are, the easier it is to enter
this OBE state. As long as we have a conscious "controlling interest"
in our experience, we are too focused in this reality. We will do much
better as soon as we become passive enough to perform the exercises
with the attitude of doing them, not because we are interested in
watching them, but just for passive reasons: Just to see what happens
next, or just for the sake of doing it. What's the difference between
being "interested in watching them" and "just seeing what happens
next?" The difference is a time-factor. When you're "just seeing what
happens next" you are concerned only with the next moment in time,
and you are accepting of what comes. When you're "interested in
watching," you have an interest in what will happen in the future.

My American Heretic Dictionary defines "passive" as follows:

1. Receiving or subjected to an action without responding or initiating
an action in return. 2. Accepting without objection or resistance;
compliant. 3. Not participating, acting, or operating; inert....

In accordance with this definition, we should be in a state where
we can be subjected to weird feelings (such as the vibrations, or
sudden very-realistic swaying motions) without responding, physically
or mentally. No matter what hits you, you should be in such a passive
state that, when something hits you you think, "Oh. That's nice," and
just continue to sit there and visualize.

Likewise, we should be able to initiate our own actions (like the
visualizations) without responding to them. We fall asleep by
becoming interested in, and responding to our own thoughts and
visualizations. If you can initiate this state and keep your
consciousness out of that dream-trap, you can retain your
consciousness after it leaves your body. You just want to become a
passive observer.

I've talked before about needing to suspend a certain portion of
your consciousness in order to leave your body. Well, that's the
portion I've been talking about.

Therefore, my exercise for the day is as follows: The next time
you practice, close your eyes and try to completely suspend your
thinking mind, as completely as possible. See how long you can keep
your mind completely blank. Instead of being a thinker, try to be an
observer. Instead of following a train of thought, jump off the train.
Don't think; act. Don't concentrate on anything; just pretend you're
staring at a blank screen in front of your eyes. Become the passive
watcher, watching and patiently waiting.

At first, you won't be able to suspend your thoughts for long.
With practice you can learn to prolong this passive state. Music can
help to produce this state if you just take a passive listening attitude.

Well, I should get going. But remember to write down any results
you get. And share them with me! I love psychic experience stories!

There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving
...
Your head is humming and it won't go
In case you don't know,
The Piper's calling you to join him.
-Led Zeppelin, "Stairway to Heaven"

Dear Wanderer,

Why did I give you the title, "Wanderer?" Well, I don't think
you're lost, and I don't think your wandering aimlessly. However, if
you're like me, you have "wanderlust." The primal urge to get out and
explore. And I hope you do!

Anyway, the song quoted above is a rock and roll classic! That's
what we're doing, right? We're building a stairway to heaven! My
spirit is crying for leaving, isn't yours? I'm not sure who the Piper is,
but I suspect the "humming" in your head is, once again, our famous
vibrations. Okay, maybe your not convinced this song is about OBEs.
Remember Seth's famous saying, you create your own reality? Well,
the same goes for the astral plane, only the results are more
instantaneous. With that in mind, consider the line, "If the stars are
all
closed, with a word she can get what she came for." Interesting,
huh?

The astral plane works just like this dimension, except the results
are quicker. Our thoughts don't always produce instant reality, like
most OBE books claim. Instead, our beliefs, emotions, attitudes, fears
and expectations produce what we encounter there, and these are all
powered by our thoughts.

Also, since the both normal and OBE "states" are both influenced
by your conscious mind, you may have problems inducing the OBE
state if you believe OBEs only happen to people who "have the
knack," or people were born with the ability. Of course, we both
know neither is true, OBE techniques can be learned. I learned my
techniques, and so can you.

So, you want to get out of your body, eh? Well, who the hell said
you were inside a body in the first place? No doubt it was Mr. and
Mrs. "They," the voices of authority in this world. If you've ever been
out of your body, you'd know that you are not your body. You aren't
even your astral body. Your astral body can pass right through
physical material of any sort, right? During an OBE, you can fly
unimpeded through anything physical, and your physical body is just
another lump of physical material, well, almost.

It seems as if we are made up of units of consciousness. So the
only thing that associates us with our bodies are psychological: beliefs,
agreements. Perhaps we're psychologically "addicted" to our physical
bodies, just like some unfortunates are psychologically addicted to
cocaine! Maybe we should start the first chapter of Bodyholics
Anonymous! In the spirit of The Combleat_Book_of_Sheep, we can
call ourselves, "BA!" And we can set out to cure ourselves of this
serious affliction. The whole world needs our help! The whole world
is addicted to physical life! Why, it's reached epidemic proportions!

Anyway, the only things that's holding us down is our beliefs, our
agreements, our addictions. And these psychological factors can be
changed. We can decide, "I don't need to spend all my time in this
body. I can roam around once in a while, for fun and adventure."

We don't have to cling onto our bodies so tightly. We don't have
to be afraid of leaving them. We don't have to worry about our
sanity. We don't have to give up anything either (except maybe
dogma).

Okay, it has to be said: Reality is just a crutch for people who
can't
handle out-of-body experiences!